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The Southeast Sights

St. Augustine's Abbey

Fodor's Review

One of the oldest monastic sites in the country, this was the burial place of Augustine, the first archibishop of Canterbury, in around 597. The site remained intact for nearly 1,000 years, until Henry VIII seized the abbey in the 16th century, destroying some of the original buildings and converting others into a royal manor for his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. It's now made up of beautiful ruins that give a good idea of what it must have looked like when it was intact. A free audio tour vividly puts events into context.